4th Circuit hears challenge to N.C. religious liberty law

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., will hear a challenge today to a law that protects North Carolina magistrates from being forced to issue marriage certificates to same-sex couples. U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn ruled in September the couples, two homosexual and one interracial, hadn’t shown they suffered harm under the law, which took effect in June 2015. Same-sex couples may still marry in the state, and magistrates can travel to other jurisdictions to perform marriages if their counterparts in another area recuse themselves. The couples claim they have standing to sue because the magistrates’ travel between counties costs taxpayers money.